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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > Literary Merit > The Life of Matt Summers
The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69157] Sun, 01 March 2015 13:12 Go to next message
timmy

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Matt seems to have a pretty chaotic life. The chronicles of it have started today.

This is another story which starts broadly below our rather flexible age threshold. It is not the intention to have an overwhelmimng number of tales about kids before puberty, but this is part of acknowledging that, perhaps in different ways, children are children, and can also be sexual beings.

This story is a major edit from the version available on Nifty. The author has done a great deal of work before submitting it here.

[Updated on: Sun, 01 March 2015 19:33]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69165 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 01 March 2015 18:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Yeah i started them younger purely for the longevity of the story, at the early stages of writing i was just going to run and run with the story and could see them ending up in their late teens by the time i got bored of writing it, now however i have an ending pretty much set in stone and maybe looking at it i could have had them a few years older, but i am sticking to my choice and i am happy with how it has turned out and it will be interesting to see how you all feel about it


Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69166 is a reply to message #69165] Sun, 01 March 2015 19:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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"Matthew wrote on Sun, 01 March 2015 18:26"
Yeah i started them younger purely for the longevity of the story, at the early stages of writing i was just going to run and run with the story and could see them ending up in their late teens by the time i got bored of writing it, now however i have an ending pretty much set in stone and maybe looking at it i could have had them a few years older, but i am sticking to my choice and i am happy with how it has turned out and it will be interesting to see how you all feel about it


--
For me it's a happy by-product. Initially it caused me to consider whether we could have it here (this is the same with Hunter Woods's tales), but I remembered my own childhood, and the woeful ignorance I had about what is entirely natural, and the overwhelming difficulty adults had in discussing it.

Our audience is of random age. Of course we have adults, and of course some of those are unsavoury. But we have teenagers, young teenagers, and younger lads still. My philosophy is one of inclusivity. This is not a "PG" website. And so we deal with the socially awkward issues here, too.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69168 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 01 March 2015 20:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Yeah and i don't think i went over the top or in too much detail with the sex side of the story, for me (well i hope i did) i just wanted to tell the story of two boys discovering themselves with each other and dealing with events together, of course there are other things going on and other characters, but this story is not and never will be about sex as the vocal point (although it is mentioned and seen in the story at points in varying detail.)

Honestly you all have permission to slap me if i ever have characters using the terms "Breed me" or "Fuck me harder, i want it harder" (that one always seems out of place for peoples first times, more so the younger characters) or similar quotes like those, although in some stories they do fit, i just don't think they would fit at all with any of my characters.

If you asked me to age the characters, i would have considered it as the ages aren't important to me or hold any sort of meaning, but I'm glad you didn't purely for the editing that would require (would have done it, but man that's a lot of editing hehe)
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69336 is a reply to message #69157] Sat, 21 March 2015 15:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Hey i was just wondering what people think of the format of my story (more so on Nifty if you have read it there, as Timmy has helped me improve how the story looks on this site.)

I'm just asking because i received an email from someone who reads on Nifty and although it was a pleasant and nice email (as far as negative emails go hehe) he said he found presentation was bizarre and the sentences were spaced out weird. although i can be dense sometimes and i can't quite think of what he means in particular as it could be a few things to be honest.

So i wouldn't mind some feedback and if it can help make the story more readable then i definitely want to make it happen if i can find the time, i wouldn't be submitting the story if i didn't want people to read it and if there are things that need to be addressed that i am missing then it would be good to know.

Cheers for any help guys Smile
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69337 is a reply to message #69336] Sat, 21 March 2015 18:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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"Matthew wrote on Sat, 21 March 2015 15:11"
Hey i was just wondering what people think of the format of my story (more so on Nifty if you have read it there, as Timmy has helped me improve how the story looks on this site.)

I'm just asking because i received an email from someone who reads on Nifty and although it was a pleasant and nice email (as far as negative emails go hehe) he said he found presentation was bizarre and the sentences were spaced out weird. although i can be dense sometimes and i can't quite think of what he means in particular as it could be a few things to be honest.

So i wouldn't mind some feedback and if it can help make the story more readable then i definitely want to make it happen if i can find the time, i wouldn't be submitting the story if i didn't want people to read it and if there are things that need to be addressed that i am missing then it would be good to know.

Cheers for any help guys Smile

--
The thing I found hardest as the guy who formatted it, was to look at your time jumps and then to look at time lapses within those time jumps. I think I solved that with mini-break symbols, but it did make it awkward to read in each location. Your initial formatting on the place that shall not be named(!) was a negative benefit for the reader, but I see why you chose to do it. In the main, large swathes of italic text (etc) are to be avoided.

The writer's job is to imagine that the story is read to the audience, aloud, with no commentary on "And now we are going here, there, back again," etc. So you have to give us clues, as you did on Nifty (damn, named it), but not as huge as the clues you gave us there. Someone who reads aloud gives clues with pace and pauses.

[Updated on: Sat, 21 March 2015 18:21]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69343 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 22 March 2015 10:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Well the guy replied back and it turns out it was the spacing he was referring too, although i don't know what happened there because i only use one space between paragraphs and two between the time jump headers so i am miffed as to why they appear so huge on Nifty.

I know my open office likes to randomly play around with the line spacing values for some reason, although that only happens in the html format, so maybe it is something to do with that idk

All i know is my next story won't have big header things and time jumps will be done as you have suggested Timmy, no need for TWO WEEKS LATER when you can work it into the actually story to tell people without beating them over the head with it Smile

Flashbacks will also be avoid, they seemed like such a good idea when i thought of them and then wrote them, then well, there is a reason that there is only like one after chapter 10 hehe
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69344 is a reply to message #69343] Sun, 22 March 2015 11:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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Flashbacks can be fine. The trick is to use them sparingly. If a tale needs too many then it needs to be told form the start, or that is my view Smile



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69715 is a reply to message #69157] Thu, 28 May 2015 23:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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This is a little premature and it might not get any response, but i was thinking about the story as a whole and it won't be long before i finish the story (started chapter 47, so 4 more chapters including that to write before it ends) and thought about the fact that while i may or may not be a good writer (although i take pride in my story being on this site, so casting modesty aside, i must have some skill), i think it's pretty clear that I am not an editor and while i have done my best (and i wanted to write the story with as little help as possible, it was the point on me starting in the first place.) there are quite a lot of errors that an editor would be able to fix with ease.

I think it is worth putting it out there if any Editors on this site, who might be looking for a project to keep them busy, or just something to do, wanted or were maybe interested in editing the whole story from start to finish (once i have submitted the whole story) although as a rough guess it is over 1 million words long (i did a rough calculation, using 23k words per chapter as an average multiplied by 50 will be around 1,1mil roughly) so it isn't going to be an easy project to take on.

As this is my first story, i have no idea how practical or enticing this actually would be for an editor though, or how the process would work, but i concede that maybe it is too late for me to request with the story complete and the size of it, but it can't hurt to ask and the worst that can happen is no response, which would be the same if i never asked (that made sense in my head)

Like i said though, this is just testing the waters and not me begging or guaranteeing anything and if someone was interested i would want to talk to them about it as well, it's weird how protective i feel over the story, but then again this has been a year of my life writing it, at which point i was at a very low point in my life and this story has helped me through that, more for the distraction then the subject matter, although it does resonate with me.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69720 is a reply to message #69715] Fri, 29 May 2015 14:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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An edit can only be a good thing, but there is a law of diminishing returns in doing it after first publication. Folk will not re-read it to see how charmingly it has been edited. They'd like the edited version first



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69721 is a reply to message #69720] Fri, 29 May 2015 15:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Quote:
timmy wrote on Fri, 29 May 2015 14:31An edit can only be a good thing, but there is a law of diminishing returns in doing it after first publication. Folk will not re-read it to see how charmingly it has been edited. They'd like the edited version first

--

True and with my next story, I'm going to get it written then seek out an editor and then submit, although i'm taking a month or so off once i finish this one, it's been a long haul.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69724 is a reply to message #69721] Fri, 29 May 2015 21:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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You also need to decide what style of editor you wish for.
  • Typos, grammar, syntax, continuity, and spelling
  • Full edit including great swathes of text




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69877 is a reply to message #69157] Sat, 04 July 2015 17:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Sorry for anyone waiting for the last part of this story, i have 5 chapters ready to send in (well 5 that are edited for submission, which is half of the final book) but i want to get chapter 49 finished (around 5k more words for that) before i send the other chapters in.

That will then give me plenty of time to write the final chapter (50) so the final book will be around 10 chapters in all think.

Again sorry for the long delay, i am working hard to tie up loose ends and going over the entire story (which is no easy feat) to try and not miss anything important that needs resolving in some way or form.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #69880 is a reply to message #69877] Sun, 05 July 2015 09:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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"Matthew wrote on Sat, 04 July 2015 18:35"
Sorry for anyone waiting for the last part of this story, i have 5 chapters ready to send in (well 5 that are edited for submission, which is half of the final book) but i want to get chapter 49 finished (around 5k more words for that) before i send the other chapters in.

That will then give me plenty of time to write the final chapter (50) so the final book will be around 10 chapters in all think.

Again sorry for the long delay, i am working hard to tie up loose ends and going over the entire story (which is no easy feat) to try and not miss anything important that needs resolving in some way or form.

--
You should never apologise for any delays. We handle that by (usually) not starting to publish a story until it's finished and polished.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #70326 is a reply to message #69157] Wed, 14 October 2015 15:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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I am coming to the end of the story now and just have one more chapter to write, which on here will be book 5 chapter 13 (i just need to format chapter 12 before submitting it to Timmy) but well i was wondering if it was common for writers with long serials to actually end their story.

See my problem isn't that i don't know how i am ending the story, i have had that pretty much set in stone for quite some time, but i want to tie up loose ends and have the story all come together and to my surprise, it really isn't that easy, i was meant to end the story at chapter 11 in book 5 but then it was obvious i couldn't fit everything in, without the ending feeling rushed and leaving to many things left unanswered, then as i came to the ending of chapter 12, the same thing happened

However in chapter 12 i had the choice to extend the chapter by another 5-10k words to end the story or start a final chapter (a real final chapter) after much musing and head scratching, i decided on the 13th chapter to end the story and it will end in that chapter, but yeah how common is this issue?

I don't feel that i have gone on too long with the story or written myself into a hole, in fact the feedback i get is that they want it to keep going, but well i have my ending and it is happening now, but a story needs to end, although i am planning a sequel, set 4-6 years in the future, which will see them going beginning their entry into adulthood, with one or two short stories to fill the gap between the end of this story and the sequel (but this is all in my head atm, so you never know if it will happen or not)

End of mini rambling hehe


Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #70327 is a reply to message #70326] Wed, 14 October 2015 17:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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My real life has loose ends



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #70333 is a reply to message #69157] Wed, 14 October 2015 22:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kitzyma is currently offline  Kitzyma

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As Timmy said - real life has loose ends.
So, in my experience of stories, the more loose ends a writer tries to tie up, the less realistic it becomes. One extreme example of that (I think a high school story on Nifty), had a plane crash on the school, killing all the main characters.

In my own writing, I try to just reach a satisfactory point that answers the main questions raised in the story, and then leave the rest to the reader's imagination. That's because much of the story exists more in the reader's imagination than in the writer's words, so the reader's idea of a loose end may be quite different from the writer's idea of a loose end.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #70340 is a reply to message #70333] Thu, 15 October 2015 18:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Quote:
Kitzyma wrote on Wed, 14 October 2015 22:34As Timmy said - real life has loose ends.
So, in my experience of stories, the more loose ends a writer tries to tie up, the less realistic it becomes. One extreme example of that (I think a high school story on Nifty), had a plane crash on the school, killing all the main characters.

In my own writing, I try to just reach a satisfactory point that answers the main questions raised in the story, and then leave the rest to the reader's imagination. That's because much of the story exists more in the reader's imagination than in the writer's words, so the reader's idea of a loose end may be quite different from the writer's idea of a loose end.

--

You both make an interesting point and i have to agree with it, i will still strive to close up loose ends, but i won't be trying to hard to get them all, there will be things left open and things unanswered.

But your example from that Nifty story made me laugh, that is just taking it too far and if i were reading that, well it would kind of annoy the hell out of me.

One thing i keep telling myself is that you can't please everyone and for me, i am ending the story the way i always intended, although admittedly i wasn't planning on a sequel, but that will be different enough from the original story to warrant it in my opinion.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #70687 is a reply to message #69157] Wed, 30 December 2015 17:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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There's been a bit of a long period since i posted the last chapter in this story and i can only apologize, because there have been 3 more chapters released on Nifty since and i should have converted them and sent them on to Timmy, but i wanted to get the final chapter written and send all 4 chapters together for here.

The only problem is, my own life has hit a bit of a wall atm and i've been stressed and pretty much pissed off most of the time over the past few months, i might even be going through a bit of a mid life crisis kind of thing, because i've been thinking more and more about how my life is and how i'm just not happy, so that's pretty much affected my writing

However i am only a few thousand words away from finally completing the story and hopefully (fingers crossed) within the next week i will have the last chapter edited and complete and for this site chapters 13-16 submitted to Timmy

So again sorry for the delay, but things happen and well i have finally got to the end of the story (well a few thousand words to go) so thank you for your patience Smile
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #71455 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 01 May 2016 17:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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It's been quite a while since i gave any sort of update about the sequel to The Life of Matt Summers and well it's been a busy year for me work wise and my break from writing went from just the one month planned to almost three months, so it was a bit hard to get myself back into writing again

So yeah, enough about me having a break from writing lol

I started writing the sequel mid march and so far i've just about written 8 chapters, i'm not sure how many chapters there will be, but i'm enjoying writing again and i'm aiming to have the sequel written and edited for release by August this year

I've also decided on shorter chapters, so where as TLoMS's has an average chapter size of around 23k words, the sequel will be on average 11k words a chapter

I decided on this because i feel like it will make not only writing each chapter easier and less time consuming, but also making editing a lot easier as well, because as far as I'm concerned, editing is the thing that takes up the most time and can often become frustrating

So yeah, to those that have been wondering when or even if the sequel will ever come, I'm going to try my hardest to have it ready by August
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #71852 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 04 September 2016 14:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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New update for those interested, i have almost finished the sequel, i have around 4 or 5 more chapters to write i think and have 27 already written and have started submitting to Nifty, just the first chapter so far

I want to bring it to this site as soon as i can, but it requires me to change the files from html to odt, which takes a bit of time and it will be another few weeks before i get that time

So hopefully i can get that done and then Timmy will allow me to post the sequel on here

So yeah, the wait is almost over and while its taken a long time, im almost there
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #71853 is a reply to message #71852] Sun, 04 September 2016 15:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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html is fine, you know.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #71860 is a reply to message #71853] Mon, 05 September 2016 20:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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Oh, well that makes it super easy for me, i will still need a couple of days, 12 hour shifts at work where you lose the will to live, don't go well with writing and editing lol
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #72837 is a reply to message #69157] Sat, 22 April 2017 18:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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This has been a long time coming, but the sequel will finally be arriving on this site very soon, i have to apologise for the wait, it's taken me a long long time to get the story finished in the way that i wanted it to finish and while i have been posting the story on another site, i didn't want to keep Timmy waiting every week for a new chapter and i wasn't sure how long the entire story would be, i originally aimed for around 30, but it has reached 43 chapters in length, so i feel that despite the delay for you guys, i made the right decision

The story is titled, Love Conquers All and it pretty much picks up from where The Life of Matt Summers ends

I decided on the title change, as the story doesn't focus as heavily on the character Matt Summers, as much as the first story and i felt like it suited the story that unfolds over the course of the sequel itself

Again, so for how long this has taken me, but it's here now and i hope you all enjoy it
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #73302 is a reply to message #69157] Sun, 27 August 2017 21:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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I hope everyone enjoyed the sequel Love Conquers All and ending of this story, it's been a long journey and I'm both sad and happy that it is over, the response i have had from readers over the last few years has been amazing and i want to thank you all for the support, even those that didn't email me, i am not a prolific emailer to authors myself, so i understand why people don't email authors

So yeah, just a thank you to everyone and that's it really, i may continue to write, but i am not sure i have it in me to write another long story/series, so if i do, it will be shorter stories

Thank you all

Matt
icon14.gif Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #74857 is a reply to message #73302] Wed, 12 September 2018 01:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
dookie11 is currently offline  dookie11

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Matt , you have a wonderful way of telling a story .
I'm there !!!
boozel11
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #74917 is a reply to message #69157] Mon, 24 September 2018 23:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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So far a very enjoyable read.Reminds me somewhat of my life at that age or younger (minus certain drama). I finally made it to chapter 10. Such a long story and more to go! No spoilers, but there was one story line so far that was definitely hot, but bordered on kiddie porn. Right to the edge if not slightly over. I was not expecting such detail.
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #74922 is a reply to message #74917] Tue, 25 September 2018 22:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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"luvtwinks wrote on Tue, 25 September 2018 00:00"
So far a very enjoyable read.Reminds me somewhat of my life at that age or younger (minus certain drama). I finally made it to chapter 10. Such a long story and more to go! No spoilers, but there was one story line so far that was definitely hot, but bordered on kiddie porn. Right to the edge if not slightly over. I was not expecting such detail.

--
While I see your thought process and considered it before publishing this tale, may I ask you to look at the various comments I have made earlier in the thread?



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #74927 is a reply to message #74922] Wed, 26 September 2018 22:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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"timmy wrote on Tue, 25 September 2018 22:47"
"luvtwinks wrote on Tue, 25 September 2018 00:00"
So far a very enjoyable read.Reminds me somewhat of my life at that age or younger (minus certain drama). I finally made it to chapter 10. Such a long story and more to go! No spoilers, but there was one story line so far that was definitely hot, but bordered on kiddie porn. Right to the edge if not slightly over. I was not expecting such detail.

--
While I see your thought process and considered it before publishing this tale, may I ask you to look at the various comments I have made earlier in the thread?

--
I was just taken aback because I've never read such material referring to that age group. Having said that, I do agree kids of that age are indeed sexual beings. My parents would be appalled at what I was doing with a couple of neighbor boys(and a girl) when we were 11 or 12 years old! Definitely more than mutual masturbation. 😉

My particular interest in this tale so far is that I was totally in love with a neighbor boy when we were both that age in the 1970's. We did some mild stuff but his mother found out and banned us from seeing each other. So the story of Matt and Ben is how I envisioned my relationship with my pal back in the day before his mother f**ked it up! So in my mind this story (so far) is "The adventures of Dave and Robbie".
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #74928 is a reply to message #74927] Thu, 27 September 2018 15:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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I'm glad. I thought you might have been shocked rather than pleasantly surprised.

I am very clear that we are read by people of all ages, many of them with their latent sexuality still very much on thye nascent stage. The key for me is to show them that they are 100% normal, whatever facet of sexuality they find is their own as it settles down.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75012 is a reply to message #74857] Mon, 22 October 2018 02:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

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"dookie11 wrote on Wed, 12 September 2018 01:00"
Matt , you have a wonderful way of telling a story .
I'm there !!!
boozel11[/font-family]

--

I am glad that you're enjoying my story. It's definitely a defining moment in my life, and while a team of editors would likely lose their sanity in trying to fix the errors, i am still very proud of what i managed to do on my own Smile
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75013 is a reply to message #74917] Mon, 22 October 2018 02:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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Messages: 73



"luvtwinks wrote on Mon, 24 September 2018 23:00"
So far a very enjoyable read.Reminds me somewhat of my life at that age or younger (minus certain drama). I finally made it to chapter 10. Such a long story and more to go! No spoilers, but there was one story line so far that was definitely hot, but bordered on kiddie porn. Right to the edge if not slightly over. I was not expecting such detail.

--

The story was always the most important thing in the story, but there is sexual elements to it, and maybe a bit too much at times, but i tried to write those as naturally and realistically as i could. 

On reflection, i do wish i made the characters a little older, but even at their ages, kids can be sexually active with each other. i still wish i maybe waited for them to be older, by having a time jump of a few years happen, but at the same time, i think with the responses i have received, i did a decent job of not crossing a line

I am really glad that you're enjoying the story, and hope the long chapters haven't put you off

I think the complete story is around 1.4mil words... it's crazy
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75019 is a reply to message #69157] Wed, 24 October 2018 00:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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Registered: August 2018
Messages: 175



After many weeks of reading, I have finally finished this epic tale. Definitely a roller coaster of a story. I exprerienced every single human emotion possible from the highest highs to the lowest lows. There were times where I had to step away from the story and not read any more for a few days (specifically, the torture and rape scenario). Then there were times I was compelled to continue reading (the "fun" stuff).

A couple of loose ends that are unclear. Did Sarah and Mike ever get married? I get the sense Mitch and Erica did but that seemed rather vague. I'm guessing Wesley and Carter were working on getting back together, but maybe that's a whole NEW story! Smile

In a way I'm almost sad the story has ended. It was so long it seems I got to know the main characters almost as if they were real people and I do miss them in a weird sort of way. Although fictional characters, Matt and Ben will always have a place in my heart. ❤️❤️
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75020 is a reply to message #75019] Wed, 24 October 2018 19:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

Toe is in the water

Registered: February 2015
Messages: 73



"luvtwinks wrote on Wed, 24 October 2018 00:37"
After many weeks of reading, I have finally finished this epic tale. Definitely a roller coaster of a story. I exprerienced every single human emotion possible from the highest highs to the lowest lows. There were times where I had to step away from the story and not read any more for a few days (specifically, the torture and rape scenario). Then there were times I was compelled to continue reading (the "fun" stuff).

A couple of loose ends that are unclear. Did Sarah and Mike ever get married? I get the sense Mitch and Erica did but that seemed rather vague. I'm guessing Wesley and Carter were working on getting back together, but maybe that's a whole NEW story! Smile

In a way I'm almost sad the story has ended. It was so long it seems I got to know the main characters almost as if they were real people and I do miss them in a weird sort of way. Although fictional characters, Matt and Ben will always have a place in my heart. ❤️❤️

--

I left some things vague, just in case i decided on more stories, but i am 99% sure that will never happen now.

As for Mitch and Erica, they did get married, it's referenced a few times that Mitch was a blubbering wreck on his wedding day.

Sarah and Mike, honestly, not too sure, i was open to either way really, and probably would have just had them be together, but never marry in future stories

Wesley and Carter, would have ended up as a couple again, but not sure if they would have married or not, but definitely together in the future.

Writing the story was a rollercoaster of an experience, and despite the negatives (i hate editing, lol. And learning how poor my grammar is) i would do it all again, but with the chapters about 5k words each and more fullstops to break sentences up.

There is always that 1% chance i will write another story in this universe, but it is highly unlikely
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75021 is a reply to message #75020] Wed, 24 October 2018 21:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



"Matthew wrote on Wed, 24 October 2018 20:37"



There is always that 1% chance i will write another story in this universe, but it is highly unlikely

--

Sometimes it is good to leave endings like real life. This is one of the elements of the Writing Masterclass several of us have been providing input for. Knowing when to stop is a thing every author decides for themselves, but we know. 1% is a good concept. It says to me that your work is, probably, done, and that other tales beckon.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75026 is a reply to message #75020] Thu, 25 October 2018 21:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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Registered: August 2018
Messages: 175



"Matthew wrote on Wed, 24 October 2018 19:37"

As for Mitch and Erica, they did get married, it's referenced a few times that Mitch was a blubbering wreck on his wedding day.


I read many chapters while enjoying my evening cocktails so I'm sure I forgot a lot. In fact, I just re-read the final chapter and was surprised by how much I did forget. I totally forgot about Wesley and Carter having sex in the church, and also about Tobias and Lilly having twins and making Ryan babysit them! I guess reading (and understanding) a story while enjoying adult beverages is not a great idea. Smile

[Updated on: Fri, 26 October 2018 19:18]

Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75230 is a reply to message #69157] Sat, 24 November 2018 23:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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Registered: August 2018
Messages: 175



For some reason I just thought of this epic tale again. As an adult in the epilogue, did Tobias still wear the thumb drive around his neck?
Re: The Life of Matt Summers  [message #75247 is a reply to message #75230] Fri, 30 November 2018 02:35 Go to previous message
Matthew is currently offline  Matthew

Toe is in the water

Registered: February 2015
Messages: 73



"luvtwinks wrote on Sat, 24 November 2018 23:59"
For some reason I just thought of this epic tale again. As an adult in the epilogue, did Tobias still wear the thumb drive around his neck?

--

Honestly, i didn't really think about that. It wasn't something i mentioned (i think, it's been a while) But if you're asking me as the author, then me personally. Tobias will always wear the USB Necklace until the day he dies and even then, i would imagine he would be buried with it around his neck.

I hope that helps and answers your question Smile
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